It’s strong, it’s new, it’s brave. It’s kids pursuing peace.
Peace Heroes was born out of a desire to empower children living in the shadow of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to face the challenges around them and overcome them in positive, life-giving, and healing ways. It began its journey in 2013 when a Palestinian school in Jerusalem decided to purposefully teach its students peace in an environment marked by violence. The heroic warrior is a very strong concept/image within Palestinian and Israeli society, but for both communities it is completely tied in with militaristic achievements.
Peace Heroes aimed to reframe the students’ sense of who is a hero by introducing them to a different kind of hero—real-life heroes who prioritize peace as a way of living over and above everything else. We believed that these remarkable women and men would not only inspire students with their stories but would also model the ways in which each and every one of us can make a difference for good in the world around us.
Peace Heroes was such a success that we decided to bring it into other schools as well. In 2016 we launched an extensive pilot program that included more schools in Israel and Palestine as well as schools in Kenya, South Africa, and Burundi. The positive feedback we received from these schools deepened our conviction that Peace Heroes is more needed now than ever to empower children to rise up and bring change for good in communities all over the world.
This website is part of our effort to expand the program even further by making our materials available to a much wider audience. We hope you will join us in raising up the next generation of Peace Heroes!
